Shipping container



SHIPPING CONTAINER Filed Dec. 4, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 |8d 9 a l 50/L u H 4 52 k July 19, 1966 J. J. DAVIS SHIPPING CONTAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 4, 1963 United States Patent 3,261,532 SHIPPING (IONTAINER John J. Davis, Neennh, Wis assignor to Great Northern Container Corporation, Neenah-Menasha, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Dec. 4, 1963, her. No. 327,883 7 Claims. (Ci. 229-6) This invention relates to a container, and in a particular form to a palletizing container, that is, a shipping fiber or container having incorporated therewith at the time of manufacture elements providing a spacing from the support upon which the container may rest, by means of which the container may be lifted by a fork-lift truck or similar means. More particularly, the invention provides an unusually inexpensive from of corrugated paperboard shipping container, certain bottom closure flaps of which may have afiixed thereto palletizing strips or runners, in a unique fashion, as a result of which the need for the usual separate pallet is eliminated.

In addition to the objects of the invention inherent from the foregoing, it is a further object to provide a modified form of the invention incorporating means by which the container may most conveniently be used as a dispensing or dumping container permitting the relatively free drop of the contained material from the container into a hopper or similar device. A particular form of the invention also includes panels providing a strengthening reinforcement for the side walls of the container.

These and other advantages of the invention will be clear from the description of the invention, essentially as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan View of a first embodiment of the invention, in blank form,

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the container erected from the blank of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a modified form of the invention, similar to FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 4 is a bottom perspective view of the erected container made from the construction of FIGURE 3, in condition to dump the contained load, and

VFIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view of a container according to FIGURE 3, and incorporating a further modification shown in phantom lines in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, the basic container is made from a single sheet of corrugated paperboard or the like, suitably cut and scored to provide main side walls 10, 11, 12 and 13 hingedly connected together along hing-ing score lines 14, 15 and 16, and a connecting flap 14 hinged to wall 10 along score line 17. To the bottom edges of the main side walls are connected bottom closure flaps 18, 19, and 21, respectively along hinging score lines 25, 26, 27 and 28. Reinforcing panels 29, 30, 31 and 32 are hingedly connected to the top edges of the main side walls respectively along hinging score lines 35, 36, 37 and 38.

Each of the bottom flaps 18 and 20 has a pair of palletizing strips or runners attached thereto, respectively runners 40-41 and 42-43, the pairs of runners on each flap being spaced from each other and positioned approximately parallel to the hinging score lines and 27, respectively. Runners 40 and 42 are located adjacent the hinge connections 25 and 27, respectively, although preferably somewhat spaced therefrom, and runners 41 and 43 are located adjacent but preferably spaced somewhat from the remote free edge 44 and 45 of the bottom flaps 18 and 20.

Runners 40-43 are most economically formed from wood, and it has been found quite suitable to use standard 2 x 4 inch lumber for this purpose, each of the runners comprising one-half of a 2 x 4, and thus having crosssectional dimensions of approximately 2 x 2 inches. Obviously, to suit special conditions under which the particular container will be used, the runners may be of different sizes from that just described and may be formed from different but functionally equivalent material.

The erected container is formed by folding the main side walls 10, 11, 12 and 13 about the hinge connections 14, 15 and 16 to form a rectangular shell, and attaching connecting flap 14 to the then-adjacent free side edge of wall 13, such as by adhesive, staples or other conventional means. Opposed pair of bottom closure flaps 19 and 21 are then folded inwardly, to substantially close the bottom of the erected shell, and flaps 18 and 20 are then folded inwardly to exteriorly underlie flaps 19 and 21, with runners 40-43 at the exterior of the erected container. Flaps 18 and 20 may be aifixed to flaps 19 and 21 in a conventional Way, such as by adhesive, staples, tape or the like. In certain usages, where the erected and filled container will in all instances be handled by support from the bottom of the container (such as by a fork-lift truck), it has been found that flaps 18 and 20 need not be affixed to flaps 19 and 21.

After the load is inserted in the erected container, shown in FIGURE 2, the thus-contained load may then be handled by a conventional fork-lift truck, one each of the tines or prongs of the fork being inserted between the respective pairs 42-43 and 41-40 of the runners. lince all of the handling of such heavy-duty containers as is herein involved normally is by a fork-lift truck, it has been found that in many usages it is unnecessary for the exterior bottom closure flaps 18 and 20 to be iafiixed in any way to the two interior flaps 19 and 21.

As an additional feature of the invention, side wall reinforcing panels 30 and 32 may, either before or after the container is loaded, be infolded over the open top of the container, and opposed panels 29 and 31 then infolded to exteriorly overlie the first infolded panels. At the places of overlap of these panels, they may be affixed together such as by staples 46 or other suitable means. For their utility as reinforcing panels, the length (perpendicular to the hinge connections to the walls) of each panel would be less than one-half the width of the container, so the container top would not be closed.

This invention has been conceived having in mind the possibility of packaging or containing unusually heavy loads, such as for example cast iron parts and the like, weighing in the order of up to one ton or more. With such great weights, previously only rarely shipped in corrugated paperboard containers, there is a significant tendency for the side walls of the container to bulge excessively, which bulging is eliminated or materially reduced by use of the reinforcing side wall panels 29-32 in the manner just described.

It will be clear to those skilled in the field here involved that the palletizing container just described is unusually inexpensive to manufacture, permitting full utilization of conventional mass production methods necessary to achieve a product susceptible to commercial acceptance. The nature and durability of the container are such that under conditions frequently encountered it may be reused a number of times before wear or damage requires its relegation to scrap or salvage procedures. A further advantage from the construction described is the ease of grouping the manufactured containers in a minimum volume for lowest cost shipment from the manufacturer to the user who will erect and fill them. For this purpose, the blank shown in FIGURE 1 is folded about hinge connection 15, or alternatively about both of hinge connections 14 and 16, and as necessary connecting flap 14 is folded to bring it into overlying or underlying relation with respect to the remote side edge of wall 13, to which it is then aflixed. The container is then in essentially conventional collapsed shell form, in which it is shipped to the actual user, usually in bunches or bales of such collapsed shells. In the present invention, the arrangement of runners or strips 40-43 is such that the collapsed shells may be gathered together in such a way as to minimize the shipping space involved in the presence of these runners, by grouping the collapsed shells in such a way that alternate shells are reversed with respect to positioning of the flaps bearing the runners.

In the modified form of the invention shown in plan form in FIGURE 3, only runners 40 and 42 are aifixed to the bottom closure flaps 18a and 20a, runners 41 and 43 being eliminated. Adjacent each of these runners, intermediate the runners and the remote free edges of the flaps, is located a line of Weakness such as score lines 50 and 51, respectively, providing remote portions 52 and 53 of flaps 18a and 20a hingedly connected to the remainder of the flaps.

Bottom closure flaps 19a and 21a are provided with slots 54, 55, 56 and 57, extending into the flaps from the remote free edges thereof, and positioned substantially perpendicular to the hinge connections of the flaps to side walls 11 and 13 and parallel to the free side edges of the flaps. Further, these slots are spaced from the adjacent free side edges of the flaps in which they are located by a distance approximately equal to the spacing of the adjacent one of hinge lines 50 and 51 from the hinge connections 25 and 27 by which the bottom fla-ps are hingedly connected to side walls and 12; since the score lines 50 and 51 are adjacent those edges of runners 40 and 42 which are remote from hinge connections 25 and 27, the spacing of the slots from the adjacent free side edges of flaps 19a and 21a may be said to be about equal to the spacing from the remote edges of the runners to the hinge connections of the flaps bearing the runners.

The carton shown in blank form in FIGURE 3 is erected (see also FIGURE 4) and used in the same fashion as previously described, except as described immediately following.

When the erected container of FIGURES 3 and 4, with the goods contained therein, reaches the' destination for use of the goods, it may be placed upon a stand or rack having rails which are spaced to support the filled container under runners 40 and 42 are spaced to support the container by contact therewith between these runners and the adjacent edges of the container. Remote bottom flap portions 52 and 53 may then by hand be hinged downwardly about hinging score lines 50 and 51, whereupon under ordinary circumstances the weight of the contained load will cause portions 60 and 61 of bottom flaps 19a and 21a to hinge downwardly, thus opening the bottom of the container as seen in FIGURE 4 to permit discharge of the load. It has been found particularly convenient to arrange the supporting rack or frame at a substantial elevation from the floor, and preferably above a bin or hopper into which the load may then be discharged for use in assembly or otherwise, as desired.

It will be obvious that, in the embodiment just de scribed, the additional pair of runners 41 and 43 may also be included, as necessary for additional palletizing support, without afiecting the operability of the invention. In such construction, hinge score lines 50b and 51b may be provided, as shown in phantom lines in FIGURE 1, adjacent runners 40 and 42. It further will be clear that the container of FIGURES 3 and 4 will be fully useful as a shipping and dumping container without 'the inclusion of runners 40, 42 and/ or 65.

Further referring to FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, a novel way of providing an additional palletizing support, is shown in phantom lines as an intermediate runner 65. This runner is shown with a width approximately twice that of runners 40 and 42, being longitudinally one-half lapped with the remote free edge of flap 18a, to which it is conventionally fixed as by adhesives, staples or the like. When the container is erected, as shown in FIGURE 5, the other half or longitudinal portion of runner 65, not overlapped with flaps 18a, underlies bottom flap 20a adjacent its remote free edge, since the combined lengths of flaps 18a and 20a approximately equals the width of each of walls ill and 13. Runner 65 thus provides support for the intermediate portion of the container, much as runners 41 and 43 in the embodiment of FIGURES l and 2, and undergirds both of exterior bottom flaps 18a and 20a. It readily will be observed that runner 65 in no way interfers with the operability of the bottom-opening features earlier described in connection with FIG- URES 3 and 4.

Having now described certain preferred embodiments and features it should be understood that limitations of the invention are intended only as specifically set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A collapsible and reusable pallet container comprising a corrugated paper-board carton having opposed pairs of main side walls and bottom closure flaps hingedly connected to the bottom edges of said walls, and a palletizing wood runner fixed to each of one pair of opposed flaps intermediate and substantially parallel to the hinge connection of said flaps to a wall and the remote free edge thereof, said one pair of opposed flaps being of length to substantially span the bottom of the carton, each of said one pair of flaps having a hinging score line therein intermediate the runner afiixed to the flap and the remote free edge thereof and positioned adjacent said runner, and each of the other pair of opposed bottom flaps having a pair of spaced slots extending into the flap from the remote free edge thereof, said slots being located approximately perpendicular to the hinge connections of the other pair of fiaps to side walls, each of the slots being spaced from the adjacent free side edge of the flap in which it is located at a distance substantially equal to the spacing of the adjacent of said score lines from the hinge connection of the flap in which it is located.

2. A container according to claim 1, further including a third palletizing wood runner fixed to one of said one pair of flaps adjacent the remote free edge thereof, a longitudinal portion of said third runner extending substantially beyond said free edge, and the combined lengths of said one pair of flaps being substantially equal to the width of each of the walls to *which the other pair of flaps is hinged.

3. A collapsible and reusable pallet container comprising a corrugated paperboard carton having opposed pairs of main side walls and bottom closure flaps hingedly connected to the bottom edges of said walls, and a palletizing wood runner fixed to each of one pair of opposed flaps intermediate and substantially parallel to the hinge connection of said flaps to a wall and the remote free edge thereof, said one pair of opposed flaps being of length to substantially span the bottom of the carton, each of the other pair of opposed bottom flaps having a pair of spaced slots therein, the slots extending into the flap from the remote free edge thereof, said slots being positioned approximately perpendicular to the hinge connections of the other pair of flaps to side walls, each of the slots being spaced from the adjacent free side edge of the flap in which it is located a distance approximately equal to the spacing from the hinge connection of the adjacent of the one pair of flaps to the remote edge of the runner thereon.

4. A pallet container of rectangular cross-section comprising a corrugated paperboard carton having opposed pairs of main side walls, first and second pairs of bottom closure flaps hingedly connected to the bottom edges of the respective pairs of walls, the flaps of said first pair being infolded to close the bottom of the container, the flaps of said second pair being infolded to exteriorly underlie the first pair and being fixed thereto, the combined lengths of the second pair of flaps being substantially equal to the corresponding dimension of the container, first and second palletizing runners fixed one to each of the second pair of fiaps intermediate and substantially parallel to the hinge connections thereof to Walls and the remote free edges thereof, and a third pal'etizing runner fixed to one of the second pair of flaps adjacent the remote free edge thereof and free of connection to the other of the second pair of flaps, a longitudinal portion of said third runner extending beyond the remote free edge of the flap to which it is fixed to exteriorly underlie and support the remote free edge portion of the other of the second pair of flaps.

5. A collapsible and reusable pallet container comprising a corrugated paperboard carton having opposed pairs of main side walls and bottom closure flaps hingedly connected to the bottom edges of said Walls, and a pair of palletizing runners fixed to each of one pair of opposed flaps, one of each pair of said runners being aifixed to the flap approximately parallel to and adjacent the hinge connection of the flap to a side wall and the other of each pair of runers being aflixed to the flap intermediate said one runner and the remote free edge of the flap, said one pair of opposed flaps being of combined length to substantially span the bottom of the carton.

6. A container according to claim 5, further including a hinging score line in each of said one pair of flaps intermediate the runners afiixed to each flap and adjacent said one of each pair of runners.

7. A container according to claim 6, further including a pair of spaced slots in each of the other pair of opposed bottom flaps extending into each flap from the remote free edge thereof, said slots being located approximately perpendicular to the hinge connections of the said other pair of flaps to side Walls, each of the slots being spaced from the adjacent free side edge of the flap in which it is located a distance substantially equal to the spacing of the adjacent of said score lines from the hinge connection of the flap in Which it is located.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,449,374 3/1923 Bonfield 229l6 2,030,295 2/1936 Hodge 229-l7 2,494,730 1/ 1950 Thursby 229-6 2,864,547 12/1958 Guyer 22917 3,026,015 3/1962 Severn 10855 3,207,412 9/1965 Bronte et a1. 229-17 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, D. T. MOORHEAD,

I. F. MCNULTY, Assistant Examiners. 

5. A COLLAPSIBLE AND REUSABLE PALLET CONTAINER COMPRISING A CORRUGATED PAPERBOARD CARTON HAVING OPPOSED PAIRS OF MAIN SIDE WALLS AND BOTTOM CLOSURE FLAPS HINGEDLY CONNECTED TO THE BOTTOM EDGES OF SAID WALLS, AND A PAIR OF PALLETIZING RUNNERS FIXED TO EACH OF ONE PAIR OF OPPOSED FLAPS, ONE OF EACH PAIR OF SAID RUNNERS BEING FIXED TO THE FLAP APPROXIMATELY PARALLEL TO AND ADJACENT THE HINGE CONNECTION OF THE FLAP TO A SIDE WALL AND THE OTHER OF EACH PAIR OF RUNNERS BEING AFFIXED TO THE FLAP INTERMEDIATE SAID ONE PAIR OF OPPOSED FLAPS BEING OF COMBINED LENGTH TO SUBSTANTIALLY SPAN THE BOTTOM THE CARTON. 